It is hard to put into words the feeling I get when I think about the nurses and doctors risking their lives to save others. It is also hard to express the ache I feel for every restaurant professional I know being unemployed. My contribution, through “Taste of TriBeCa”, is making all the difference in my own spirit and, hopefully, in the lives of those that our effort aims to impact.

Our organization is called “Taste of TriBeCa”. I am honored to be one of its co-chairs. For 25 years, “Taste of TriBeCa” has produced an outdoor food festival that raises money for the arts and enrichment programs of two TriBeCa elementary schools. One of the schools is our son Frith’s, PS 234 in TriBeCa.

On March 11, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we canceled this year’s food festival planned for the third Saturday in May. Then, an amazing thing happened. Taste of TriBeCa board member, Bettina, got this idea to help TriBeCa restaurants AND feed hospital workers.

Just over three weeks ago, we launched the “Taste of Tribeca Community Fund”. Since then, we have received over $60,000 and, with this, we have purchased over 4,800 meals from 10 Taste of Tribeca restaurants for delivery to 11 New York City hospitals, plus FDNY Ladder 8, FDNY Engine 7, the NYPD 1st Precinct, and NYC Department of Sanitation Manhattan District 1.

Check out our story below, covered by CBS 2 NY News!

Here are some images from the last three weeks.

Donations have helped to keep these restaurants in business and, in turn, the restaurant teams have been doing some of the most important cooking and meal service of their careers, for the healthcare workers on the front lines against Covid-19. The importance of these contributions cannot be emphasized enough. As another organization doing similar work has put it:

“We are not merely sending care packages as a thank you to the healthcare workers. We are providing them with basic nourishment, which they have no time to buy on their own, and in some areas, no one from whom to buy them.”

And, in our little corner of the city, we have restaurants willing and able to serve and for whom our large orders are essential to the continued operation of their business. We are now down to our last few thousand dollars, which, at our current pace, will last us between another few days to a week. We would love to keep going until at least May 15, so please consider donating again if you can, and share our mission with your families, your friends and your colleagues. Your continued generosity and support will directly benefit our restaurants, our neighborhood, and the healthcare heroes in our great city.

Thank you from all of us at “Taste of Tribeca”!